It was past the hour of sunset; and before dark
all resistance ceased. Colonel Drummond surrendered the castle hill on
conditions; the infantry in the street were killed or led prisoners to the
cathedral; and the city was abandoned during the obscurity of the night to
the licentious passions of the victors.[2]
In this disastrous battle the slain on the part of the royalists amounted
to three thousand men, the taken to a still greater number. The cavalry
escaped in separate bodies; but so depressed was their courage, so
bewildered were their counsels, that they successively surrendered to
smaller parties of their pursuers. Many officers of distinction attempted,
single and disguised,
[Footnote 1: These were the earl of Cleveland, Sir James Hamilton, Colonel
Careless, and captains Hornyhold, Giffard, and Kemble.--Boscobel, 20.]
[Footnote 2: See Blount, Boscobel, 14-22; Whitelock, 507, 508; Bates, part
ii. 221; Parl. Hist. xx. 40, 44-55; Ludlow, i. 314. Nothing can be more
incorrect than Clarendon's account of this battle, iii. 409. Even Cromwell
owns that "it was as stiff a contest for four or five hours as ever he had
seen."--Cary's Memorials, ii. 356.]
to steal their way through the country; but of these the Scots were
universally betrayed by their accent, whilst the English, for the most
part, effected their escape.
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